[ExI] Genetix

[Alan Grimes]

'ello, om, and all that...

Today I want to talk about what it will take to create the cyborg 
species that I spent so much time describing in the story that I 
released a few weeks ago and only a few people skimmed. Yes, I know the 
thing was flawed. I admit that. However, in order to earn the right to 
criticize it, you need to show me what YOU wrote about YOUR vision of 
transhumanism. And there can't be any hand-waving either. The reason 
that story of mine was so laborious was because I felt obliged to 
provide, at least, a fairly strong indication of how I envision the 
technologies I was describing actually working. So yeah, if you have 
some technical quarrel with me, something that I can go back and improve 
in the story, then I'm all ears. However, if you just want to make 
general criticisms about my writing style then put up or shut up!

My topic for today, however, is what it will take to accomplish the type 
of radical re-design that I sketched out. On a related note, I love the 
attitudes of the DIY-Bio people. They rock. Tragically, they simply 
don't appreciate the magnitude of what they're trying to do and, 
reportedly, are engaged in very short-sighted experiments on themselves 
with very minimal benefits, if any, and potentially terrible long-term 
side-effects that might reflect badly on transhumanism as a whole. I 
wish they would devote more of their energy towards thinking in a more 
holistic, long-term way about what they are doing.

om

The problem with how people seem to want to go about genetic engineering 
is that they seem to want to think about things like scientists, rather 
than engineers. They want to identify some specific subsystem or 
subprocess and then run off to solve it without thinking about how it 
should be integrated into the person, as a complete organism, or how it 
should be carried forward through the family line.

Part of the reason why people think about genetics in a reductionistic 
way is because holistic thinking on this subject is prohibitively 
complex for the human mentality. To do it right, you need to consider 
every possible interaction between the genes/nanomachine-code and the 
environment. You need to consider gravity, magnetic forces, chemicals, 
everything.

You can't just swap out a gene in a chromosome without considering how 
the chromosome itself will fold differently. On top of that you need to 
figure out how to implement complex anatomical and functional changes 
that might affect entire ensembles of genes, or require entirely new 
regulatory mechanisms.

The kind of flippant responses such as "nanomachines are better, do 
everything with nanomachines" don't cut it either. Are they really 
better? Can they satisfy transhumanist but not posthumanist aesthetic 
requirements? The science on that question hasn't even begun.

Even if we decided to go whole-hog into a nanotech based solution. Where 
are we going to obtain it? =P

So yeah, if you want your next body to last a few million years, you're 
not looking for a slap-dash solution.

What you need to do, obviously, is take a bigger stick to the problem. 
That is why I'm strongly focused on AGI these days. Additionally, you 
need to be able to direct the work yourself, the most effective way of 
doing that is through a BCI system. That is why I've been mouthing off 
about neural interfaces so much over the last few months. (Actually, a 
great deal longer, but hey...)

Completing this project is not optional. We will all be dead in a Very 
Short Time(tm) on the Grand Timeline if we fail to accomplish this 
project. Because of the amount of work that needs to be done, it will 
require a great deal of time for even a very high performance AI system 
to accomplish it. So it is urgent that we work with the greatest 
expedition to get this done. Even though I don't have any money right 
now, I devote (in theory at least) time each day to read up on AI 
design, work on a VR system for raising the AI, etc... If you ppl knew 
what was good for you, you'd do the same thing.

Tomorrow I'm going to get together with the other members of the DC 
transhumanists and....      Spend the afternoon watching 3-Stooges 
episodes!!!!

<screaming> AAAAAAARRRRRRRGHHH!!!!!!!!! </screaming>

=((((

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